super singles

wny_pat wrote:
The only reason you see Super Singles on over the road trucks is because of bean counters in the trucking industry trying to get the CEOs more profit. And some RVer sees them and thinks its such a wonderful idea and puts them on his motorhome. On some rigs, like cement trucks, they are necessary as floatation tires because they prevent tearing up of customers lawns, driveways and sidewalks.

I was riding on Super Singles way back in the 1980's down in Florida and hated them. Also had them in the late 1990s and early 2000s on petroleum transports. They were like pregnant skate boards when it rained on that hot black asphalt!!! Even worse if you were hauling a real light load. And on snow - forget it. After my many years of experience of driving on Super Singles, I can tell you that you will never see them on any vehicle I own! The only reason I had them is because someone else owned the equipment.

X-2, Good post Pat telling it like it is! I never liked bean counters anyway, just doing something to try and justify there jobs.

Hikerdogs wrote:
Today I ran across the biggest set of super singles I've ever seen. They're on an articulated off road truck in Homer Alaska. The front cab section of the truck has 2 axles under it. The permanently attached articulating trailer section has 4 axles. All 6 axles are drive axles.

Each axle has 1 tire on each side size 44"X41.00"X20. Goodyear "Smooth Terra Tires"

In short the tires are 44 inches wide, 41 inches tall, and on 20 inch wheels
I took several pictures but so for I am unable to post them.

You need to use a photo hosting site like http://www.photobucket.com/.

Today I ran across the biggest set of super singles I've ever seen. They're on an articulated off road truck in Homer Alaska. The front cab section of the truck has 2 axles under it. The permanently attached articulating trailer section has 4 axles. All 6 axles are drive axles.

Each axle has 1 tire on each side size 44"X41.00"X20. Goodyear "Smooth Terra Tires"

In short the tires are 44 inches wide, 41 inches tall, and on 20 inch wheels
I took several pictures but so for I am unable to post them.

The only reason you see Super Singles on over the road trucks is because of bean counters in the trucking industry trying to get the CEOs more profit. And some RVer sees them and thinks its such a wonderful idea and puts them on his motorhome. On some rigs, like cement trucks, they are necessary as floatation tires because they prevent tearing up of customers lawns, driveways and sidewalks.

I was riding on Super Singles way back in the 1980's down in Florida and hated them. Also had them in the late 1990s and early 2000s on petroleum transports. They were like pregnant skate boards when it rained on that hot black asphalt!!! Even worse if you were hauling a real light load. And on snow - forget it. After my many years of experience of driving on Super Singles, I can tell you that you will never see them on any vehicle I own! The only reason I had them is because someone else owned the equipment.

What you want to bet, when it comes to "who" buys those super singles in the trucking industry, it wont be the drivers & probably not anyone in the trucking office that ever drove a truck for any length of time.

A bandaid is good if you got a cut or scrape on your body, but you dont need them if you have no cuts or scrapes, so you just dont need them.
Same goes for the duel tires, why mess up a proven thing & then have problems later with just using one.
Neil

Super singles have been popular on cement trucks for quite a number of years. As far as he rest of the trucking industry goes I'll bet it's less than 5%. The biggest complaint I hear is that when the tire goes the rim is also usually toast. Given that the tires and rims aren't all that popular it could mean a long and expensive downtime.

Very few companies use them in snow country. The wide profile is sotra like putting on a set of racing slicks. They work great on warm dry pavement, but throw in some moisture and cold weather and it's a whole different ball game

I failed to mention that the larger a tire surface is causes the tire to act like a ski. In rain, ice and snow you will have poor handling (more than the usual). Also with super singles if you have a flat your down (road service will be paying you a visit).

The super singles have largely replaced duals on tractors and trailers in western Europe, while duals are still common in central and eastern Europe. The newer tires are preferred by EU highway safety standards, but harmonization of national vehicle codes takes some time when you keep bringing new countries into the club, and a lot of traffic comes from outside the EU.

My last few visits, fall 2010 Iberia, France, Italy, spring 2011 France, spring 2013 central Europe, I've been keeping track of what has been on motorcoaches vs trucks, and guess what? All running duals on the. drive axles. Maybe because this means six or eight identical tires, rather tha two kinds on two axles, or three kinds on three axles? It is not because wheels and tires are position interchangable, because they are not.

FWiW, in most of the countries, motorcoaches (still running the supposedly less safe duals) have speed limits 10kph to 30 kph higher than the heavy goods trucks running the newer, and believed to be superior, super single technology.

In this country, we'll be running dually on all our heavy axles unless situational economics makes super singles less costly in operation, or until this dually solution, dating from the early 20th century, is outlawed, as it has been in a few places, but not many.

Being a retired truck driver who has lots of experience driving trucks and trailers with super singles I can tell you a few things from experience. We had a driver in our company yard loaded to the max (102,000 lbs.) with can goods and he made a really sharp U-Turn in our yard and the tires on one side came off the rims on one side! Any groove in the pavement that the tire edges catch the tire wants to track out of your lane. And in the snow and ice they are very difficult to handle (squirrelly). They look really nice, but don't handle well!

Super singles are much more expensive than duals, but have much greater wear, which is why the truckers use them. Motorhomes do not put anywhere near the miles on, like an over the road truck, so the tire would die from age, long before any cost savings would be realized. Wrong tire for typical application.